Xbox One + SkyDrive

SkyDrive users will be interested to discover that Microsoft's cloud storage service will be integrated into the Xbox One user experience in a way that mimics the service's availability in Windows 8.x and Windows Phone. This is a step up from SkyDrive access in the Xbox 360 and speaks to the integration strategy that makes sticking with the Microsoft stack such a huge advantage to users.

"We're really happy to be announcing SkyDrive on Xbox One," Microsoft's Jeff Henshaw says in a video you can view below. "It's part of our bigger vision to bring all of the entertainment that people love together in one device on one input on your television. With SkyDrive, we're able to bring your personal content and even shared photos, music and videos into the Xbox One experience."

To understand the differences, consider how SkyDrive works on the Xbox 360 today. There's a standalone SkyDrive app, and you can use this app to play photos or videos you've copied to your SkyDrive storage. But the app is buried in the Apps interface in the Xbox 360 dashboard, and your SkyDrive-based content doesn't appear in logical places in the dashboard, like TV & Movies or Music. (It also isn't a source in the System Video Player or System Music Player.) In other words, you need to think "SkyDrive" first and then go from there. That's not the way most people work.

For Xbox One, Microsoft is going with a bit more integrated approach that expands somewhat on SkyDrive access in Xbox 360. Here's what's happening.

A focus on photos and videos. As with SkyDrive for Xbox 360, SkyDrive for Xbox One focuses on photos and videos, "the things that are going to look great on your television" as Henshaw notes.

Voice integration. Like everything else in Xbox One, you can access SkyDrive's functionality via Kinect-based voice commands. "Xbox, go to SkyDrive" will launch the SkyDrive app, for example. But you can also use voice for some pretty granular searches. For example, Henshaw uses the search query "panoramas shared by Doug," which is pretty powerful.

SkyDrive app. As with the Xbox 360, you can use a standalone SkyDrive app, as noted, and it looks and works much like its predecessor.

Photo slideshows and video playback. As with the SkyDrive app on Xbox 360, you can navigate into a folder of photos and trigger a nice photo slideshow (which has some nice effects not present in the 360 version). You can also play any videos found in SkyDrive.

More photo capabilities. In addition to viewing individual photos or slideshows, you can zoom into individual photos, and pan through them, neither of which is possible on the 360.

Shared content. Like the Xbox 360—but unlike Windows 8.1—you can also access content that others have shared with you via SkyDrive.

One Guide integration. As noted previously, SkyDrive is integrated into Xbox One in a way that is not on the 360, so you don't need to only use the SkyDrive app to access your content. You can also see SkyDrive content in the One Guide, which is sort of a channel guide on steroids. That is, it combines your broadcast TV guide with so-called app channels that let media apps like Netflix, Hulu Plus and HBO GO expose their content as a channel in the lineup. SkyDrive automatically creates Pictures and Camera Roll channels in this One Guide, and you can add your own custom channels that represent shared content from friends and family. Sounds pretty powerful.

Snap and see. This isn't new to the Xbox One per se, but it's worth noting that if you use the Camera Roll functionality in SkyDrive to automatically back up all of your photos to the cloud as you take them, you can go out for the day, take a bunch of photos, and then sit down in your living room and view them in HD resolution on your HDTV. You don't need to worry about copying them to your PC, storing them on a hard drive or memory stick or any other manual task: It's all automatic.

Snap. Xbox One supports a Snap feature similar to that in Windows 8.1 (and completely unrelated to the "snap and see" feature mentioned above, which refers to snapping photos with a camera app on a smart phone) in which you can run two apps side by side. This lets you look at photos in one area on screen in SkyDrive, for example, and learn more about the location in Internet Explorer or whatever. (Eh. What would be more interesting is if Bing had visual search and could automatically launch a web search based on one of your photos. Just saying.)

Discuss this Article 10

Awesome stuff. It's integration with infrastructure features like this that will play a big part in XB1's future. It's funny how after the horrible reception, XB1 has quietly made up a lot of ground on the PS4 with cool integration features and a few policy reversals.

This all sounds great, but my biggest issue with SkyDrive has always been poor video playback (and generally slow performance). I inevitably get lag and stuttering whether I use the Xbox 360 app, the web interface on my laptop, or the WP8 app. This happens all the time, at home and the office, and whether the connection is wired, WiFi or cellular.

I almost never have this issue with YouTube or Xbox Video (or other video streaming sites on mobile or laptop) so I assume there is some underlying structural issue with SkyDrive.

I love the tidbits that they are putting out, I wonder what they are holding back for launch day.

One thing that would REALLY be cool with the voice stuff, is the ability to bark out entire sentences without having to wait for stuff to happen. For example instead of saying "Xbox On" "Xbox SkyDrive" "Xbox Todays Photos", how about "Xbox On, SkyDrive, Todays Photos" as you are walking in to the living room. Or "Xbox on, play Zeppelin Playlist". I have a feeling this will be supported, but I have not heard anything of the sort. That would be really cool I think. Then I could give my Mom a cheat sheet of commands to say right from the Start Screen to get her where she is going, assuming this thing passes the Mom test, which it may not. Excited about all this integration.

I have GOT to get this console for our house. My mom and dad have trouble juggling the numerous remotes we have. Wouldn't this be the perfect excuse -- that is, because of the voice control -- to get them to embrace a new way of controlling their TV? They've even told me they just want to talk to the television, not remember how to press a dozen different buttons. "But Mom, we NEED an Xbox One ... look how easy it is, you can talk to it!" :-)

There are a lot of stupid and/or inexperienced users out there, no doubt about it, but Microsoft's shining star was always that the company treated *no one* like that and assumed that everyone was capable of learning and improvement. It left assumptions of customer stupidity and gullibility to Apple, and as a result Windows boomed as the Mac receded into eternal remission. Unfortunately these days, it appears as if it isn't just the company's software that's dumbing down, it's Microsoft itself that seems to be getting dumber by the day. This entire year has been one step forward, two back.

It doesn't have to be this way--Microsoft still employs a lot of smart people. It's just that the much dumber ones have been put in charge lately. Go figure. It is almost painful to watch.

it does have support. I share folders all the time... and the best thing is when you share folders and files, you do not occupy space that isn't yours. so if I share a 2GB file with a friend, I'm not using up 2GB of his storage. he can edit the file, view the file, download the file and put it away without messing up my file. that's the thing I hated about Dropbox (still enjoy my 11 GB though). a 2GB file took up space in both accounts.

What I Use

Like many, I was hoping to see a new Lumia flagship before the end of 2014, and while I was pleasantly surprised in some ways by both the Lumia 735 and 830, neither offers the level of performance or best-in-market camera quality I had come to expected from Microsoft/Nokia's high-end devices. So I pulled the trigger on an unlocked Windows Phone flagship that will hopefully take me through at least the first half of this year. Or until Microsoft gets off its low-end fixation and satisfies the needs of its biggest fans....More

It's been a while since the last What I Use, but there haven't been many major changes since late last year: Surface Pro 3 has become my go-to travel companion, I've added a third cellphone line for testing Windows Phone, Android and iPhone side-by-side, and have rotated through some new tablets and other devices. We've also switched from FIOS to Comcast and added to our set-top box collection....More